The digital broadcasting carries video signals together with a copy control signal which controls whether or not the video signals can be recorded, and when the video signals are permitted to record, how many times they can be recorded. The copy control information obtained from the copy control signal determines whether or not the video signals can be recorded. This technical art is disclosed in, e.g. Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-22610.
The copy control signals include signals of “Copy Free”, “Copy Once”, and “Never Copy”. These signals are transmitted in an electronic program guide information (hereinafter simply referred to as “EPG information”) together with program data to be broadcasted. The program now on-air contains video signals with a copy control signal. The digital-broadcasting receiver controls outputting the video signals based on the copy control information.
FIG. 8 shows a block diagram illustrating a structure of conventional digital broadcasting receiver 800, which includes digital tuner 810, controller 820, display 830, externally outputting section 840, and remote-control receiver 860. Antenna 815, external device 841 and remote controller 861 are connected to receiver 800. Antenna 815 is connected to digital tuner 810 which converts the television broadcasting radio-wave caught by antenna 815 into video signals and outputs the signals to controller 820, which then outputs the signals to display 830 and externally outputting section 840.
Using remote controller 861, a user reserves a program for watching or for an unattended recording. At this time, controller 820 inputs the reservation information about the pre-selected programs via remote-control receiver 860, and reservation information memory 826 stores the information such as the date, time and the channel of the program to be recorded.
When the designated hour recorded in memory 826 comes, to-be-recorded video producing and outputting section 821 instructs tuner 811 to switch the channel, so that tuner 811 supplies the video of the program to video producing and outputting section 821 for forming video data to be recorded. Then section 821 outputs the video signals to display 830 and also externally outputting section 840.
However, when a copy control signal of a video signal in reception is switched to another one, a conventional digital broadcasting receiver produces to-be-recorded video data and processes the output of the video signal in accordance with this another copy control signal, so that intermittence is obliged to occur in the video for one-two seconds.
For instance, in the case of recording two consecutive programs, a first program comes with a “Copy Free” signal and the second one comes with a “Copy Once” signal. In this case, when the first program is switched to the second one, an output process of the video signals is also switched from “Copy Free” to “Copy Once”, so that the supply of video signals is halted for one-two seconds during the production of the to-be-recorded video data. As a result, the second program loses the video at its very first part, and the user sometimes misses the title of the second program.
As discussed above, when the copy control information attached to video signals supplied from the digital tuner is switched to another copy control information, the conventional digital broadcasting receiver must switch the output process set in the digital tuner about video signals to another one. Thus the conventional receiver is obliged to halt the video output temporarily, then switch the output process to another one in accordance with this another copy control information before restarting the video output.